Author: Daily Audio Bible Transcripts

Ezra 8:21-9:15, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Psalms 31:1-8, Proverbs 21:1-2

Today is the 9^th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we prepare to end another work week, move ourselves into the weekend and then move into a shiny, sparkly, new week out in front of us. But we’re here now. This is the 9^th day of August, and the next step forward will take us…well…we’ll pick up right where we left off. So, we’re reading from the Gods Word Translation this week. Ezra chapter 8 verse 21 through 9 verse 15 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in our reading from the book of Ezra today we’ve been tracing Ezra’s journey from Babylon to Jerusalem with this remnant of Israelites who had survived the exile. And, of course, we read that whole journey when we read Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. We read all the stories. We realized how Israel and Judah, the northern and the southern kingdom were eventually carried away. So, those who had survived, which is just a small amount of the people that there were beginning to have permission and are beginning to move back toward Jerusalem, and this had been going on for a little while. So, when Ezra arrives, he learns that they’ve basically just gone back to where they left off. So, all of the things that they were doing to rebel against God and denounce God, they just kind of picked up where they left off. And, so, Ezra’s like tearing his clothes and pulling out his hair and pulling out his beard and he sat down for the rest of the day, shocked. I mean it was fundamentally idolatry that led to all this and so they’ve come back and begun to practice all of the worship of the false gods of the people around them that they weren’t even supposed that the morning and supposed to intermingle with. And, so, Ezra just prays. Like “God, like, we’re ashamed. We can’t even look up to you. Our sins are piled higher than our heads. Our guilt reaches all the way to heaven.”

So, then in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we see the same kind of willful rebellion taking place 600 years later. And now this is beyond like remnant Hebrew culture coming back from exile, this is in the church, the early church. Basically, a man and his stepmother were openly having a sexual relationship and the community around thought that that was fine. And, so, Paul was ultimately just as appalled as Ezra and he speaks very similar to the way Ezra did. So, we basically have to step back and go, “okay two very, very powerful man in the Scriptures are very vocally expressing essentially disgust and shame and we can certainly look into our own lives and to look for the seeds that would grow up into this kind of behavior, whether it be returning exiles who are beginning to worship other gods again or whether it be what’s happening here in the early church. But if we boil it down to its core then what we’re witnessing here are the extremes of deception. And, so, the exiles, they knew the truth, the early believers, they knew the truth. Deception and pride just let them begin to rationalize their immorality. And we can contend them really easily because you can see it in black and white in the Bible, but we’re doing this constantly and it basically boils down to the fact that if we allow deception to have its way with us inside of us we are going to end up being led into some sort of immoral behavior in some sort of way. And because we’re wound up in this deception and pride, we’ll try to justify anything. So, if we just step back away from the examples that we’re given, right, like idolatry and intermingling in the Old Testament and this situation between a man and his stepmom in the New Testament, if we step away from it we realize that intermingling with sin in ways that we already know are not right, that’s gonna lead us deeper into sin and into deception and into destruction. It’s like, you know, we have a 25-year-old example, we have a 2000-year-old example in the New Testament and then we have today. Like, we could just look around us in our own lives and see the examples. And fundamentally what we’re doing is, you know, messing around with things we know better than and then creating a new normal for ourselves so that they’re not wrong anymore. And then we don’t realize that we’ve been so deceived until like we’re actually staring destruction in the face. So, let’s consider today what we’re rationalizing, right, what we’re justifying, what our inner narrative that kinda keeps the story of our life going inside of us. What are we justifying that we already know like we have no business messing with? The voice of deception will tell us there’s nothing wrong, like there’s nothing wrong. It’ll tell us that freedom is no boundaries. Like, you can do whatever you want, however you want. That’s freedom. I don’t think that’s freedom. I think…I think the kind of freedom that we’re looking for in our spiritual…like what we are honestly looking for…what real freedom would look like for us is that we have nothing false within us and we have nothing to hide from anybody. That would be freedom. So, we have plenty of examples in the Bible and we have plenty of examples in our own lives about where our quote unquote freedoms may lead us. I guess the question becomes, how free do you actually really want to be? Because that dictates how true we must become. And we actually have an example for it when we look at the Savior.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit we invite You into that. We can’t always find the ways that we’ve subtly been deceived but we can spend our whole lives trying to work it all out, trying to sniff it all out, but we’re not really capable. We were never meant to figure it all out without You. And, so, we’re running to You, we’re inviting You. Well up within us and show us the areas that are false and begin us on this path of ridding ourselves of every deception so that all that’s left is true and so that we are truly free indeed. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its the website and indeed how you find out what’s going on around here.

The Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion for this year is coming up in…let’s see…one, two, three - three weeks - three weeks from tomorrow. And, so, here in the rolling hills of Tennessee out on the lake, we’re gonna have a Family Reunion. We did this last year. We had a lot of fun. Looks like we’re gonna have even more fun this year. In fact, I know we will, and I am very much looking forward to this because we’re gonna take a little break after this. We’ll be going to Israel in 2020, but we’re kind of not gonna do the other normal events that we do and take just a small breather, some time to dream, and also some time to complete some things that have long been underway. And, so, we’re looking forward to that but really looking forward to this where the family comes together here around the lake and around the global campfire and where we get to see each other, hear from each other. Looking forward to that. So, I hope you can come. All the details are at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Just look for Family Reunion 2019. And we’ll be there, and I hope you can be there as well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage and I thank you, I thank you profoundly for your partnership as we continue to take the next step forward every day. There wouldn’t be next steps if we didn’t take them together and we always have and so I thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on homepage, If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the app or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi family this is his little Sherry in Canada and I’m calling with a message for Patricia from New Orleans, I think it was Patricia. Your speech was slurred but much easier to understand than last time and I’m so glad you called in and requested prayer. I wanted to let you know that I will continue to pray for you, and I wondered what else I could say that would encourage you. I asked God what I should say, and I felt him say to me, “just tell her how I feel about her.” So, I pray that you will hear the voice of your Father in this. Dear one, I love you tenderly, more tenderly than any mother has loved your child. What loving parent wouldn’t do all they could to rescue their baby girl and I am moving heaven and earth to rescue you. Moment by my moment and day by day I am riding to your rescue and I promise you will be saved in every way it’s possible for person to be saved. I will take this terrible thing that has happened to you by the throat and I will make it give birth to something good, something so good that if I told you you wouldn’t believe me. You will dance in my garden. You will sing in my shade. You will be barefoot and carefree in the home I built for us. There will be curtains in the windows and apples on the sill. Summer will spring from your fingers every time you touch me, and I will weep. I won’t be able to help it. I will weep knowing that you never will, never again. My own, I am carrying you this very moment, and nothing can take you from my arms.

Good morning DABbers, this is Walta the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and our King. Guys, I’m calling today to pray for Jake. I heard his mom call in. Jake is an 18-year-old with MS who has been suicidal lately. To the mom, I want you to know I’m praying with you for your son and I’m just praying for God to heal his Spirit, heal his heart, and for the Holy Spirit to just address that situation and let God show him that He is present and show him His will for his life at this time. And I still believe that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond our expectations. And, so, I pray and believe that God is capable of healing. And I pray for healing of his body. I also want to pray for our sister from New Orleans who also needs healing for pain. And she prayed that God would restore her voice. Father God, I pray that You will touch her vocals right now in the name of Jesus, the vocal cords or whatever it is that is not functioning as You intended it too. Father God, I pray that You relieve pain. Father You bore all. By Your stripes we are healed. And, so, God we pray oh Lord that You will bring forth that healing in her life right now in the name of Jesus. God, we thank oh Lord. We thank You that we should come boldly to Your throne of grace not by our strength and might but by Your Spirit Father and we believe Your word is true in Jesus’ name. I love you guys and I will talk to you soon. Bye.

Hi, I’m calling because I just heard the call on…I don’t know the date today unfortunately…but a woman called in talking about her two autistic boys. She was just kind of diagnosed with cancer __ even higher than it used to be and she’s __ stage for breast and brain cancer. I just wanted to tell you that I’m praying for you, to let you know that I was so inspired by your call that I was moved to continue to pray for you. So, I’ll just pray right now. Father God, thank you so much for this woman, this woman who left her mark on the world through her boys and through her books that she’s left for all of us to read and to know you more. God, I pray that in this hour of need you would be with her. I thank you for her strong safe that’s provided a foundation for her God, that’s provided her with hope for the future, whether…no matter what it holds God, that you’ve provided her with hope and God I pray that __ you would touch her body, you would heal her body, you would do a miracle. God we still believe in your hand, we still believe in your healing hand, in your miracles and power. I pray that you would touch her body, touch her boys, touch her book that it would reach people around the world. And God, I just thank you for her life and I thank you that she was a part of this community for nine years, has been a part of this community, continues to a part of this community. And I pray that we just reach out and carry her in her time of need. God, I thank you for your power, I thank you for your love in her life and I ask all this in Jesus’ name. You all, I just want us all to pray for her. Continue to give. I love you all so much and I pray that God would bless all of us. Thank you and have a good day.

Hello DABbers, this is Christopher in the pretzel city. Could you please pray for me? I just…I wish I knew what was going on, but I just am feeling completely lost and stressed and…yeah. Obviously, it seems like a lack of spiritual maturity because I should know that when you’re anxious you pray but I just need some kind of support. So, please pray for me so I can get my act together and pray for others. Thank you.

Hey family this SarahJane, yeah that SarahJane. I think you guys have heard me mention a volunteer here in Colorado by the name of Balli who’s not a Daily Audio Bible listener, but I happen to know through a knitting group, and she has helped stuff the subscriptions and things for quite a few years. Two days ago, her husband who was 50 years old collapsed and died on a Spartan race course in Colorado. So, if you could please lift her up in your prayers. She doesn’t know Jesus nor did he but all of the volunteers here in Colorado to know her. And, so, pray for them and the right words to say to her the next time I see her. And just, yeah, to get pray for her. It’s a horrible loss. He had two children that were grown but they were not Molly’s children. But I just…my heart just hurts my friend. Thanks guys. Love you. Bye.

Ezra 7:1-8:20, 1 Corinthians 4:1-21, Psalms 30:1-12, Proverbs 20:28-30

Today is the 8^th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you today like every day taking the next step forward through our weeks and months and adding them all up and making a year in the Bible going through the entire Bible in a year. And, so, here we are, August 8^th, and we’re reading from the Gods Word Translation this week. Today Ezra chapter 7 verse 1 through 8 verse 20.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your kindness. We thank you for your long-suffering. We thank you for your patience. We thank you that you have rescued us from the pit, you have come for us, that you are always present to us. We thank you for your word, that no matter what’s going in our life, no matter how murky things may look, we have something tangible that we can hold in our hands as this gift to orient us to you no matter where we are. And, so, come Holy Spirit, plant the words spoken from your word today into our hearts, into our minds. May we be fertile soil that the fruit of the Spirit might grow within us. We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, of course, its where you find out what’s happening around here. It’s one of the great places to stay connected around here, so be sure to do that.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop while you’re there. There are a number of resources that have been created for the journey that we’re on through the Bible in a year.

The Prayer Wall lives at dailyaudiobible.com as well. Of course, all of these things can be accessed through the Daily Audio app. But the Prayer Wall is a place where continual prayer’s being offered and asked for. So, be sure to check in there. Pray for your brothers and sisters.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, then I thank you with a humble heart and…man…a great appreciation. Thank you for your partnership as we continue to move through the summer months. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the app, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, there are a number of numbers that you can use. If you are in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to dial. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number. If you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Ezra 4:24-6:22, 1 Corinthians 3:5-23, Psalms 29:1-11, Proverbs 20:26-27

Today is the 7^th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you as we kind of cross the first full week of this month, at least in numerical numbers. This is the 7^th day of August, even though we’re in the middle of a week and this happens to be the 219^th day of the year. So, well done for showing up today here around the global campfire where we just come in and allow God to speak to us through His word on His own terms. All we have to do is still ourselves, take a deep breath. Whatever has happened today or whatever is yet out in front of us to accomplish today, it’ll still be there, it’s not going anywhere, and our frantic attempts to keep up, they’re not really helping. But this will help - a deep breath, stepping away from it all for a little while, connecting to our spiritual lives, which is what we were talking about yesterday in first Corinthians, and just letting God speak. So, we’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week. And today Ezra chapter 4 verse 24 through 6 verse 22.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in our reading from the book of Ezra today we continued to watch the taunts of the enemies of Israel and we continued to watch them try to disrupt and sabotage the work to rebuild God’s temple, right, with all of these letters going back and forth to the king and all this inspection etc. etc. Despite all of that, all the intimidation, the people continued to build. They knew that they were given permission to do it and they knew they were obeying God. And I guess that’s the lesson. We could just stop right there. There’s the lesson, right? We’re going to experience this kind of stuff. We’ll be disrupted, we’ll be taunted, we’ll be marginalized occasionally. These things will happen to us while we’re doing the work of God, something that he’s told us to do, something that we are building that we are supposed to be doing and that we are empowered to do, right? And just, if the intimidation won’t work then the attempts to delay things or to interfere, to just meddle in things, this is what happens and the process isn’t easy, but we are watching an example here in the Scriptures. It wasn’t easy for them. It’s not easy for us. The only differences between us and them are likely that they didn’t give up. We have to be steadfast when we know we are obeying God. And we know when we are obeying God that cannot be attached to specific outcome. It has to be total trust that we are obeying God and whatever happens is for his purposes whether we understand it or not, as we’ve been reading in first Corinthians. And this brings up something that we’re going to begin to see, that we cannot avoid, that will carry us through to the end of the year as we continue through the Scriptures, and that is this fact - endurance is required on the faith journey. And as we move deeper and deeper into the New Testament moving our way all the way toward the end of the last books of the Bible, we will see just how true that is. So, if you’re walking that path. You’re walking down a path that you believe God’s got you on towards something and it’s like everything’s going wrong, like nothing is easy…and man…I’m like speaking to myself because it’s been a year where nothing has been easy. Like, really almost to the point of comedy in my life where it’s like nothing…everything has to be contended for, and then it’s just part of learning to maintain. But we’re all walking through stuff at various times. And, so, I don’t think there’s anybody that doesn’t understand what we’re talking about here. If you’re on a path that God has asked you, then walk that path no matter my what might fall in the path. If the telephone pole falls down in front of you on the path then gotta walk around it like or you got a cut through it. The point is not that we get delayed. The point is that not that we don’t get diverted. The point is that we do not stop, that we continue forward. And if we’re slowed down significantly then we just have to try to make some progress. Every step forward is a step forward. So, be encouraged today and take the next step forward. You are not alone. But together as a community if we all take the next step forward then we’ve made huge strides forward in the kingdom.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. We invite You into endurance and we invite You to help us to understand that this isn’t purposeless, and this isn’t Your anger or displeasure. Resistance is how we grow up. It has a way of dealing with all of the selfishness in us. It has a way of prying our grabbing hands and fingers loose from the world. So, come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where your find out what’s going on around here. It’s where you stay connected in any number of ways.

All of the links to all of the different social media places that we are exist in the Community section of the website. The Prayer Wall lives in the Community section where people are praying for each other on a continual basis and asking for prayers. So, that’s a great place to stay connected.

And we have an event that’s coming up at the end of this month, man, just a couple of weeks from now over Labor Day weekend for connection. It’s the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion and we’re looking forward to that. We’re looking forward to that a lot actually hear the rolling hills of Tennessee out at camp Widjiwagun on the lake. And there’s just a lot to and see and be and we’re looking forward to that. So, hopefully you have. Hopefully you’re coming. Hopefully you’ve made arrangements and your coming. If you haven’t, hopefully you can. Hopefully you can come. We’d love nothing more than to do what we do when we get together, which is the shake hands and hug necks and tell stories. And, so, hopefully we will see you there. All of the details are at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Look for Family Reunion 2019. If you’re using the app, you can press this little Drawer icon that’s in the upper left-hand corner of the app and that’ll get you to the Initiatives section as well. So, hopefully you can come.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage and it just lives there. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Greetings Brain this is Tony from Germany and I heard your reading and your commentary today for August 3^rd about gossip and one thing you said in there was, “let this be that day that we start, you start, yeah, I, August 3^rd, 2019, I start in earnest to try as hard as I can to the grace of the Lord to not speak negatively about others even if it’s in frustration especially when it’s based on assumptions. And I will try earnestly not to be part of any problem like that. So, I do have role models that I see thankfully that are really good at not listening to gossip and not gossiping. So…and not making negative assumptions. They’re my role models and I ask the community to pray for me because I just feel that I will be a person that I will respect more if I can keep my mouth shut, you know. And if I have to voice of frustration, well I’ve got a nice chubby little kitty named Micah and I have the Lord, or I use my mentors and voice my frustrations with them and get their guidance. So, for anybody else who is going to be joining us can we just pray together for each other to go down on this road and to the grace of the Lord with time have more control over our words and keep them in line such that they are life-giving. Okay, thank you Brian, thanks for this. Bye. God bless everyone.

Good morning, Chucky from Colorado and Robert wanting to serve. I too got that Cancer diagnosis a few years ago and I want to share with you a Scripture that got me through that time. It was in second Corinthians 1 verses 9 through 11. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death but this happened that we might not love ourselves but our God __. He has delivered us from the deadly peril and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope, He will continue to do this as you help us by your prayers, and many will give thanks on our behalf in the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. Be strong. I can tell you that my first prayer was Lord let me a good ambassador for you during this trial. And He gave me many opportunities to be a witness for him. He got me through. Cancer is not a death sentence. I encourage you to get a second opinion, especially if there is a university hospital nearby. But you are being prayed for and know that the prayers of many got me through. So, I encourage you, keep __ watch him work. Love you, know that I am praying for you and I got through stage III __ cancer __ years ago and I’m still cancer free. God bless you.

Hello family this is Rebecca from Nebraska and I’ve been a longtime listener, I don’t how many years, maybe eight years now or so and it’s been a long time since I’ve called in, but after listening to the podcast today about King Hezekiah and Manasseh, I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that story about King Manasseh. And today for some reason it was like I heard it again for the first time and I could not believe at the end of his life how much grace the Lord gave to him when he repented, king Manasseh, this evil wicked king. And I just felt the Lord really speaking about how powerful repentance is and simple prayer is and how powerful our prayers are. And I read this other quote from Max Macado recently that our prayers may be awkward our attempts may be feeble but since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not the one who says it our prayers make a difference. So, I love you all, am praying for you all. Today when I heard about the testimony of Walta, your son and your reunion, it just made me cry. And so, I’m so blessed by this community and your prayers and when you call in. So, I love you all. Have a good day.

The man was quite tipsy as he walked on the street
very erratic like he had two left feet
he whistles a tune he stumbles and falls
he tries to get up but he can’t so we crawls
to a lamppost where he pulls himself up
but then he takes out a bottle and turns it straight up
he talks and he gestures to an invisible friend
he takes a few more steps and then he falls once again
is this a comedy or a tragedy you be the judge
because stereotyped images run deep and they don’t budge
that man will be a comedy unless he were your son
and in that case it would be a tragedy and to him you would run
and what about that girl that everybody hugs
who day after day sells her body for drugs
up on the sofa done on her knees
ready willing and able to please
she belongs on the trash pile with the scum of the world
but what if you were the parent of that little girl
we all are Gods children and he loves us all much
especially those who are rebellious and rough
because some haven’t fallen they run and then leap
straight into sin where they wallow real deep
but Christ doesn’t condemn you he’ll heal and restore
your sins are forgiven go sin no more
bring out a robe a ring kill the calf
my child has returned let’s party and laugh
not like most of us who say
let’s watch wait and see if he comes to his senses and lives righteous like me
he’s gonna need some rehab some probation too
cause you can’t expect complete restoration after all he put me through
stranded and bleeding alone on a ledge
surrounded by servants Christ was my hedge
he is the good shepherd left all the good sheep to rescue one bad one
his love is that deep

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Thank you, Brian and the Hardin family for this podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow keep the flow and y’all. Alright bye-bye.

Hello, this is Michael Jean Elmore from way out west and I’m calling in to thank God that old Prodigal called in. He called in for Demetrius and praying for Demetrius and talked to him and giving us a lot of update on himself. Thank you very much for calling in. We’re all praying for Demetrius and you Prodigal and just…just wonderful to hear your voice and that update. So, and I’m sure that you’re going to be very encouraging to Demetrius. You’re very encouraging to me. So, I’m sure you will be to him. And thank you all that call-in. I don’t call in very often, but I listen to it every weekend, pretty much. I might’ve missed a couple of them. But over the years I’ve come to love the weekend three-hour prayer program as much as the Bible reading. It’s just really been a real encouragement to me and thank you all for calling in and God bless you Prodigal and keep on keeping on. Adios.

Ezra 3:1-4:23, 1 Corinthians 2:6-3:4, Psalms 28:1-9, Proverbs 20:24-25

Today is the 6^th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian like every day and it’s great to be with you like every day here around this global campfire that we call our community as we come in out of whatever and join hearts and minds as we allow God’s word to speak to us. This week we’re reading from the God’s Word Translation and we’re kind of just getting going in the book of Ezra and in the letter to the Corinthians, Paul’s letter known as first Corinthians. So, we’re at the front part of both of those books. And off we go. Today, Ezra 3 verse 1 through 4 verse 23.

Commentary:

Alright. So, yesterday when we were reading from first Corinthians, Paul’s started talking about the nonsense of the gospel and we kind of explored that a little bit but as we continue through the letter Paul continues on with his discussion and basically Paul said that God’s plan to redeem the world was something that was ancient and had been hidden but was revealed in Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, but only for people with eyes to see and ears to hear, which is basically what Jesus said throughout His ministry. If we think about this from our own perspective, like from our own human understanding of the world that processes information through five physical senses then what we’re reading doesn’t really make any rational sense, that God’s plan to redeem the world was ancient and hidden, but was revealed in this person named Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit’s but the only people who would be able to find it would be those with eyes to see and ears to hear, right? And most people are like, “I have eyes and I see, and I have ears…”, like it doesn’t necessarily make sense. However, once you’ve felt the truth of it, once something has come awake inside your soul, you can’t see the world any other way, which is like what we said yesterday - incredibly difficult to describe to somebody who doesn’t see, who doesn’t hear, who doesn’t experience the world as a spiritual being. And Paul commented on that. He said, “not one of the rulers of this world has known it. If they had, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, especially the deep things of God.” So, for those of us who are mostly rooted in rationalism, which would be me, I need to know how things work, then how do you reconcile this apparent disconnect that happens between our own reason and this awareness that somehow there is a spiritual reality more tangible than anything else in the world? This is what Paul was trying to explain. It’s like not a new question. And, so, here’s what Paul said. “Who knows everything about a person except a person’s own spirit? In the same way no one has known everything about God except God’s Spirit. We didn’t receive the spirit that belongs to the world. Instead, we received the spirit who comes from God so that we could know the things which God is freely given. A person who isn’t spiritual doesn’t accept the teachings of God’s spirit. He thinks they’re nonsense. He can’t understand them because a person must be spiritual to evaluate them.” So, basically, according to the apostle Paul, our human mind by itself on its own can’t reason the ways of God. We need something more than our own mind. And, so, for Paul there’s only one way to reconcile this and in reconciling this and explaining it he gave us one of the most quoted verses in all of the Bible, “we have the mind of Christ.” So, as we experienced in Paul’s letter to the Romans, his writing is highly theological, highly technical, so, you know, we could go intellectual and just try to understand what we’re talking about here today or we can try to boil this down into something that we could live into today and thankfully words, much older than Paul’s letter to the Corinthians gives us advice. From the Proverbs today, “the Lord is the one who directs the person’s steps. How then can anyone understand his own way?”

Prayer:

Father, as we enter into that, we see that there really is a constant battle between what we believe and what we perceive, and this is simply exposing the line inside of us where we are of the world and where we are not. So, we invite Your Holy Spirit to help us today to see things spiritually and not to see them as something, a problem to figure, but as a way to enjoy life with You. Come Jesus we ask. In Your mighty name we pray. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it is where your find out what’s happening around here.

And in short weeks, very short weeks from now before this month is up, we will be excitedly hosting the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion for 2019 here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. And we are looking for to that and you are indeed invited, and I hope you’re coming. I hope you can come here to the beautiful Nashville area and experience the rolling hills for yourself. You can get all of the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. There is…well…you’ll see, Family Reunion 2019 and you’ll click in there and every detail that you would want to know or need to know is in there. While you’re in the Initiatives section you may also…well you’ll see the other initiatives but one of them is Israel 2020. And we will be going back to Israel in 2020, although we will not be doing the More Gathering or the Family Reunion in 2020. We’re taking a little bit of a break from such an aggressive pace that we’ve been keeping for 14 years. Taking a little break. So, we won’t be doing the Family Reunion next year. So, this one is one that we’re really looking forward to kind of hold us over, get enough hugs and enough handshakes and enough conversations and that will hold us over for a little while. So, we’re looking forward to that, but we will be going back to Israel and there are precious few spots left for Israel 2020. So, if that’s been on your list, you can look in the Initiatives section where you are already looking at the Family Reunion and you’ll see the Israel 2020 and you can get all the details there as well. So, hoping to see as many of you as possible. That is the next couple of things that are coming up.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that lives on the homepage and I thank you with all humility and with all of the heart that I can put into the fewest words possible. Thank you that we are in this together and thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Brian I’ve been with you every day for nine years. You inspired me to write the book “Jewels of the Bible”. I took the Bible line by line, I pulled out the stories and I made them alive because I have cancer, breast cancer and it’s moved to stage IV and it went to my brain and I just got a new oncologist who basically told me to put my affairs in order. I have two autistic boys ages 19 and 22. King David said, I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread. I am not righteous but Jesus is my righteousness and I just would like prayer for the boys, Michael Josiah and Elisha Benjamin. My husband after 25 years when I got cancer he left. I know this is a two-minute call but when I wrote the book, when I made the Bible alive for kids for the next generation it’s like that when the attacks started. So, Satan’s trying to get my brain. I left it for the world and I want you guys to know that it’s there and I love you all so much and I trust Jesus to go with __ these babies…well they’re not babies, they’re young men…I would be happy to go see Jesus and I know Jesus will take care of everything and I know this is more than two minutes but God bless you all. I love you Brian. You’ve helped me through so much of my life. God bless.

Hi, my name is Jessica I’m calling from Michigan. It’s August 1^st. Actually, it’s August 2^nd but still not officially because I haven’t gone to asleep yet. I am a college student, I’m 19. I started listening to the DAB when I was 15. I have an interesting spiritual journey throughout my childhood and I really needed to feel close to God and DAB was one of the ways I was able to do that because I didn’t really have any spiritual friends, or my family really didn’t go to church very much. But I got a campus ministry college. That was great. I got some great fellowship opportunities and made some good friends but a few months ago when I started fighting a doctor in a few and it really confused me and made my relationship with God kind of uncomfy and in seeking out answers and trying to understand this side of things and I ended up finding way more questions than I thought and not many answers and it really made my relationship with God kind of bad. So, I reached out…not reached out…but decided to listen to DAB again today and that was great because I haven’t listened in a while. I’ve been reading the Bible chronologically more for historical contextual study __. But I really found what Brian said about not fighting people on doctrine to be helpful and I guess I felt inspired by that and I just wanted to reach out and ask you to pray that I can have a better relationship with God because I miss Him a lot…

Hi Brian, hi Daily Audio Bible community. I just want to…this…my name is Norma…and I just want to thank you so much for your…this app and this community. I know that the Lord led me to you as I was praying for deeper study in the word and I know that I have found that with the Daily Audio Bible. And I also would like to…I was led by the Holy Spirit to call in to offer some words of encouragement to all of those who have called with problems with her health and finances and those that have had lost a loved one. I just wanted to share a couple of Scriptures with you and just…reading from John 14:2. He says, “in my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” And in second Corinthians 4:18, He says, “while we do not things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal.” So, I want to encourage all of you community that are going through some things, that what we are going to see here on earth, as it says in the word, is just temporary and I know that during this time of suffering it’s really difficult but remember also that as the word says in John that God is preparing mansions for us and we have so much to look forward to when we are raptured and I just encourage all of you…my heart and compassion call out to all…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Treasured Possession coming at you from the blessed lake state of Minnesota and I’m calling to encourage other believers to give up. I want to thank Pastor Brian for all of his dedication for years and years of speaking the word every day. I have been listening for a long time but this year, first year consistently all the way from January 1^st up until today. And I want to say I am so excited. Second Chronicles 32:7-8 pretty much describes our marriage of 33 years. My husband and I will be married 33 years of the 9^th of August and it is because of exactly what pastor Brian talked about today, the one thing that has changed in our marriage is just what he talked about. If Satan can get us discouraged full of self-doubt, blaming others for what we’ve done, he’s stolen our faith. And often Satan uses the past, debts, results of previous sins we’re still experiencing to try and convince us that God wasn’t enough then and He won’t be enough now, so just give up. But that’s only the story from this world’s point of view. Our faith says God was there then and He’s there now. We live in Christ as a people resurrected from death, the death of our past sin. We are made completely new and alive in Christ, that every spiritual blessing and the power to obey with joyful and peaceful hearts. Jesus gives us His authority to overcome the enemy as we step forward in faith, learning to trust the Holy Spirit’s guidance through suffering, missing the mark, confessing, getting back up, and going deeper into faith with Jesus. Praise God. I love you all. Be blessed.

Hi, good day, my name is Marcia from Jersey. It’s been a while since I called the line. It’s been like about four years. I know when I called first, I mentioned I was diagnosed with lupus and I was able to experience a miracle. The Lord has healed me. I went on to have a baby boy. His name is Joseph. But the reason that I’m calling today is because I heard the prayer request from Gary from northern Idaho. He was saying that he was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. Gary, today I’m calling to say to you that you’re under a spiritual welfare. I want to say to you that I admire your strength. I listened to your call and you said you…you know, I’m saying to you that I admire your strength and your stance. I want to reiterate what you said, that you are throwing down the gauntlet and your fighting side-by-side with Jesus. Keep it up. Keep it up my brother. You’re going to win. I’m am declaring today that your cancer free. You said you’re following in the great commission. I love it. I love it. I love it. I want to pray for you. Today I’m going to pray for you. So, father today I come before You. I say it today God, Your name is Jehovah. You’re Jesus Christ, the one that sits at the right-hand side of God the father. I am declaring today God that Gary is healed and delivered from metastatic prostate cancer. I’m binding up and chaining up and am casting in the pits of fire every demonic force that is standing against him. In the name of Jesus, I destroy right now the authors of the enemy that have him tied. I break every yoke in the name of Jesus. God…I am speaking of God…I am setting him free right now in the name of Jesus. Father, I thank You for him oh God, every record keeping instrument with his location and identity I’m destroying it in the name of Jesus. I rebuke the devourer, I reverse every agreement now made against him. I’m destroying every evil work from its root and severing the ties of the enemy. I’m speaking to him oh God and I’m saying who the Son set free is free indeed. John 8:36. The Lord bless and keep you in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.

Ezra 1:1-2:70, 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5, Psalms 27:7-14, Proverbs 20:22-23

Today is the 5^th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we move into the work week. And, of course, yesterday we began Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church known as first Corinthians, as well as concluding second Chronicles. So, today as we move into the Old Testament portion of our reading, we’re moving into new territory. Our next book is called Ezra.

Introduction to the book of Ezra:

The book of Ezra is going to historically pick up essentially where we left off in second Chronicles. So, the children of Israel are in exile. They’ve been carried off for their rebelliousness to God. And, so, the book of Ezra covers about the next 80 years, and three different kings, Cyrus the great, Darius, and in Artaxerxes. All these kings actually provide favor and cover for the Israelites who are returning to their homeland. So, Cyrus the great begins that process literally having a desire to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem for the worship of God and about 42,000 Israelites who have been in the Babylonian exile crying and weeping for the day that God would restore them, well they finally begin to make trips back under the leadership of a person named Zerubbabel to rebuild. Of course, they’ve been gone for nearly a century so they’re gonna face all kinds of opposition from the people that are there and we see this in in the intimidation that takes place and then the political maneuvering that takes place but they stick to the task. It’s a great reference point for us. This is a great point in the year for us to encounter the book of Ezra in our own lives as we stick to what we know God has given us to do in our calling in life regardless of what opposition we may face. So, having said that, we begin today the book of Ezra and we’re reading from the God’s Word Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. So, have you ever sat down and started thinking through your faith only to be kind of lead into a day, a season, an hour of doubt we’re you’re like, “this doesn’t make any sense…this is all nonsense…like what is it that I’m believing here? This is a foolish.” I mean, some of you are like, “no, I’ve never felt that way ever in my life.” I have, lots of times. And it’s the apostle Paul, in this letter to first Corinthians today, who acknowledges that feeling, like affirms that that’s what it looks like. So, quoting from first Corinthians, “the world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of its own wisdom. So, God decided to use the nonsense of the good news we speak to save those who believe. Jews ask for miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but our message is that Christ was crucified. This offends Jewish people makes no sense to people who are not Jewish, but to those Jews and Greeks who are called, He is Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom. God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” And for me, like personally, that’s been very very frustrating. I would be a Greek in this story, one seeking the truth, seeking wisdom. Like, I’ve spent so much of my life studying theology trying to make it all harmonize when in the end you are at a precipice and you have to step where there is no solid ground and it’s called a leap of faith. Like all of it leads us to faith. And, so, what Paul’s talking about in first Corinthians is simple enough. God can’t be found inside the confines of human intellect or human experience alone. He’s far bigger than that and we can’t categorize with human reason alone all the things that He will or will not do. So, our very best attempts are weak at best. To find God it’s a blind leap of faith, a leap that might look very foolish to many. But, the thing about it is that foolish leap for us when we take it, it turns us right side up. Like, we see the foolishness that we’ve been living under all along and the futility of it all. That just really reveals how spiritually disoriented humanity has become and that’s what Paul’s speaking to when he says, “God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength, but God shows what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God shows what the world considers week to put what is strong to shame. God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises, what it considers to be nothing in order to destroy what it considers to be something. As a result, no one can brag in God’s presence.” It’s kind of at this point where you have to acknowledge you’re not going to figure it out. Like, we do not know all that we think we know about anything, especially God. And God is not a being that can just be co-opted to become a part of our lives, like the add-on to our lives while we remain in control as essentially our own functional God, our own sovereign. And, yeah, it seems foolish to give up control of ourselves and believe in what we can’t see, but it’s that foolishness that brings us to the end of ourselves. Like where our strength ends is where we can encounter God.

Prayer:

God, Father, it is Your presence we seek, it is Your presence that we need. In every conceivable way we need You. Even when we are running from You and try to figure it all out in our mind, we need You. And, so, we realize it’s a leap of faith, it’s a surrender and when we are in Your presence, we can’t really explain it to somebody who doesn’t know. It seems like nonsense and foolishness to them even when we try to put it into words it might seem like nonsense and foolishness to us and yet at the deepest core of our heart, at the deepest place of our identity we know. We know You’re there. We know it’s true. And, so, come Holy Spirit and allow us to let go of the nonsense of trying to figure it all out and rest in the faith that Your presence is all around us and we are going somewhere together. Come Holy Spirit we pray, in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home, it’s the website. It’s where you find out what’s happening around here.

And we’re looking forward to something that’s happening a little later this month, The Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. So many of us have been on this journey for so long, and some of you have just come and stepped onto the ship for, you know, this is your first journey through the entire Bible. And, so, it’s a virtual community. We’re all over the world and yet every day we come around the global campfire and we know that were not alone and over the course of the year we kind of get to know voices, especially those who’ve called in and stuff that we’ve had some sort of interaction with and this is an opportunity to step out of that and into face-to-face, like being able to see each other…like I know you…I’ve been…I’ve known about you…I’ve have known your story for a long time and now I’m seeing you face-to-face. It’s a beautiful thing. I mean, in some ways, selfishly, it’s a beautiful thing for me because I love to shake your hands and hug your necks and know that we have…we’ve been on this journey together, but it also just makes my heart happy to watch that happening among the community. So, come, come to the rolling hills of Tennessee August 31^st over Labor Day weekend where we’re gonna have the family reunion out on the lake. It’s gonna be quite a time and you can get all of the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Just look for Family Reunion 2019. If you’re using the app, it’s easy enough, just…there’s a little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app and that will open up and you’ll see Initiatives in there. So, all the details are there, and I hope to see you there in a few weeks.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link and it’s on the homepage and I thank you for clicking that link. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment there are a number of numbers that you can use depending on where you are in the world. If you are in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number. In that in the UK or in Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number and if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible friends this is Patricia from New Orleans Louisiana. I want to thank the lady who called in to say __ for me. Thank you very much. I want to ask…I just…please…please pray for me that the whole pain that I’m in each day all day long and also pray for me to get my regular life back please. I thank you all and God bless each and every one of us. Thank you and God bless you. Bye now.

Hi family this is Karen from Pennsylvania and the reason I’m calling is for my son Jake. Last year I had left a request of the line and some people got back to us and I so much appreciate that. Thank you family. Jake was 18 last year and he was diagnosed with MS. And family he’s been suicidal really bad since the diagnosis. He says that he doesn’t want to live, and he doesn’t care where he ends up and he that hates people, and this is not my Jake. This is not my kid. I mean, it is but he says things that I never would’ve expected to hear him say and I know that God is with us and I try not to be afraid, but I am afraid. I’m very afraid because he talks about it all the time but he’s so adamant that he doesn’t want to be here but sometimes he says that he just wants to be with our Father and then other times he says he doesn’t care __ he just wants to die. So, please pray for Jake…

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Jonathan from North Carolina. Just wanted to call and pray for Ben and his marriage. Called in on or was played on the 31^st. I just pray for restoration for his marriage. Lord, thank You so much that we can come before in prayer. Thank You that there is nothing that is beyond Your power, and no relationship to broken, and no situation to desperate that You can’t restore. And I just want to thank You for Ben and for his obedience to You and calling and asking for prayer and for restoration of his marriage and obedience to You not even first of all knowing if that is Your will or not. And I just thank You Lord that You’re for marriage and that Ben is thinking about his kids and his family and what it would mean to them to have a family that was functioning well. And I just pray Lord that You would restore his marriage and that You would restore his family and that You would, as it says in Your word, restore __ if the yoke is heavy. And, I guess, thank You so much that You are for Ben, You are for his wife and You are for their children and that You have good plans for them. So, Lord I just pray for Your honor and glory and that You would restore them, that You would bring them close Yourself and that You would receive all the honor and glory in Jesus name.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family, this is Jay from Nashville. Just wanted to give you folks an update. I’m doing pretty well. Just pray for me because I’m…I’m needing to change the depression medication that I’m on because it’s causing me some severe drowsiness and it’s making things a little difficult for me being tired all the time but praise God for pharmaceuticals, praise God for doctors, praise God for modern medicine. And if you’re dealing with, you know, any mental health issues. just know that, no you’re not crazy, you know, you just need…you might need some counseling or some therapy or some medication. That’s okay. You know, I don’t know about most people but in my community, you know, my family in the area where we grew up, you know, we were labeled if we had any mental health issues as crazy people and nobody wants to be called crazy. Nobody wants to feel crazy when the reality is mental health is a real issue, it’s not something to shove under a rug and pretend that it’s not there because the longer you wait to deal with it the more problems, you’re going to cause yourself in the long run. So, let’s erase this mental health and get the help that we need, you know. I love you guys and just keep praying for me and have a great day.

Hey this is Sheila calling from Texas. Today I want to speak blessings upon your life. This will help somebody. I speak to you who constantly receive curses and no words of affirmation. Today by the authority in the name of Jesus Christ I cancel every negative word ever spoken over your life and I speak blessings upon you in the name of Jesus. God loves you and wants you to remember that He sees those wounds deep down in your heart. He wants you to release those that have cursed you over the years. He wants to give you a brand-new heart free of any wounds. Yours is just to forgive and now receive the blessings of the Almighty God. Shalom. Next, I want to pray for Duane of Wisconsin. I just want to remind you that you’re very, very much loved. You fell from your bicycle and now you injured your muscle and it’s torn you need to have surgery. I ask that the Almighty God will heal you and that the blood of Jesus will cover you from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. May you receive healing and be made whole and me you call back and testify. God bless you. Blessings upon everyone on DAB. We love you. Bye-bye.

2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23, 1 Corinthians 1:1-17, Psalms 27:1-6, Proverbs 20:20-21

Today is the 4^th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. Welcome. It’s great to be here with you today around the global campfire. I’m here in the rolling hills of Tennessee and wherever you are, we are still connected together by the wonders of technology that…that allow us to be a community. Even though we’re all around the world we’re still all around the global campfire taking the next step forward. And, so, the next step forward in the Scriptures today in the Old Testament will bring us to the conclusion of second Chronicles and then we get to the New Testament portion of our reading, we will be beginning a new letter from the apostle Paul, a letter that he wrote to the believers in Corinth, but before we get there and talk about that let’s dive in and finish second Chronicles chapters 35 and 36.

Introduction to the book of first Corinthians:

Alright. So, that concludes the books of Chronicles, which means tomorrow we will move into new territory in the Old Testament and we’ll talk about that tomorrow but we concluded Paul’s letter to the Romans yesterday, which brings us to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, known as first Corinthians, which is a letter or an epistle, which means letter, to the church at Corinth. And in Paul’s Corinth was a cosmopolitan city, like it was a destination place in the Roman Empire. It was a hub for trade and commerce. In fact, in terms of the Empire, Corinth was the fourth largest city in all of the Roman Empire. So, a lot of people, a lot of people from a lot of places, creating a melting pot of ideas, including a lot of spiritual ideas, a lot of idolatry, a lot of sexual experimentation and everything else that you can imagine that comes with a large secularized society. It’s not like that stuff doesn’t exist in our cities today. But this gives us some context because Paul wrote this letter that we now call first Corinthians as a response to some of the things he’d been hearing that were happening in the church there. And some of the things that were happening in the church there were causing divisions among the people. And, so, Paul is writing this letter, mostly in terms of unity and his words do ring across time and they’re very relevant to where we find ourselves today. And while working our way through this letter, we will for certain find some of the most quoted portions of the New Testament. So, sayings like, “I see through a glass darkly.” That’s in first Corinthians, or “when I was a child I spoke as a child” and then of course the 13^th chapter of first Corinthians is known as the love chapter, by far one of the most well-known portions of Scripture and we’ll read the 13^th chapter of first Corinthians when we get to chapter 13, but now we’re at chapter 1 verse 1 and we’ll read through verse 17 today.

Commentary:

Alright. So, we’ll have plenty to talk to…talk about from first Corinthians as we move through this letter, but let’s go to the Psalm today because…man…I know that so many are facing depression and anxiety and I know that there are those days that are down for me to. And David’s kind of talking about the fact that he has those experiences too and what happens to his anxiety when he finds himself in the presence of God. So, quoting from Psalm 27, “the Lord is my light and my salvation. Should I fear anyone? The Lord is a fortress protecting my life. Should I be frightened of anything?” So, those are fair questions. Like those are fair questions that we should be asking ourselves because fundamentally what we’re asking ourselves is, “What is it that I believe that is more powerful than God?” and “Where could I find refuge outside of God’s presence because I believe that these things are more powerful than God? And, so, David comes the conclusion that God is all-powerful and there is no other hope. So, David says, “I have asked one thing from Lord, it’s all I seek, to live in the Lord’s house on the days of my life seeing the Lord’s beauty constantly adoring his temple.” So, if we could just hold on to the core of what David is saying in this Psalm, and if it could be planted deep in us…in ourselves then we would be facing in the right direction, we wouldn’t find all this confusion, because the presence of God is the only place in the world that will ever make sense. We were created to be in God’s presence. He is our source of life. Life isn’t going to work any other way. And when we functionally believe that something is more powerful than God and can give us shelter and we run to that thing, that’s what most of the Old Testament is about, idolatry. So, let’s delight today in the fact that we are invited into God’s presence, the only place that we’ll ever be safe, the only place that will ever make sense. And may we really be shocked to find that God wants us to come to Him. He wants us in His presence. He wants to be with us. And when want the same with all of our heart then we’ll realize we are in His presence where we belong.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You. We thank You for this reminder in the Psalms. We need these constant reminders to snap us back to what is real. And so, we run to You. We want to only be in Your presence in all that we do, and all that we think, and all that we say. So, we open our hearts to You. Come Holy Spirit, lead us deeper into the presence of the Father. Lead us into all truth we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home, it’s home base, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected. Stay dialed into community in any way that you want to in any way that you can.

The Prayer Wall certainly is a great place for that. A wonderful resource to pray for one another and ask for prayer.

And you can check out the Daily Audio Bible shop there while your visiting. There are resources that are available for this journey.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we move through the summer time, thank you profoundly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

2 Chronicles 33:14-34:33, Romans 16:10-27, Palms 26:1-12, Proverbs 20:19

Today is the 3^rd day of the month of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we take the next step forward and get ourselves fully moved into this new month that we have before us. And we need to start preparing for some new territory in the Scriptures. Today when we read from the New Testament, we will be concluding Paul’s letter to the Romans and then tomorrow when we read from the Old Testament, we’ll be concluding the book of second Chronicles. So, as we move into this new month we’ll also be moving into new territory in the Bible but were not quite there yet. So, from the Old Testament second Chronicles chapter 33 verse 14 through 34 verse 33 and we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week.

Commentary:

Alright. So, we gotta talk about the Proverb today. And it’s a buckle up moment, it’s like a brace yourself and take it like a man or take it like a woman kind of moment. “Gossip goes around telling secrets.” That’s what the proverb says. So, if you’re the kind of person that here’s a secret, like a little juicy morsel of something, a little private information that you can’t wait to share and if you take that hot little juicy morsel and you share it to make yourself look concerned and in the know and connected, here’s where you need to brace yourself - then you’re a gossip. Yeah…I know…I mean…I know that’s harsh, but I’m not the…I didn’t make this up, I just read it. You might even take offense to the idea that you might be a gossip but believe me, your offense is not as offensive as gossip is. I’ve been in ministry long time. I hate gossip because I have watched gossip gain the power to destroy people’s relationships. And when that begins to happen then erosion begins to happen and communities can be profoundly affected. And this is why it’s a regular theme, it’s why we’re counseled to completely avoid it in the Scriptures. We’re just reading this proverb again. “Gossip’s reveal secrets; don’t associate with those who talk too much.” So, what we realize in this just very, very brief proverb, a lot is being said because it’s not only about the gossip-per. It’s also about the one who’d willing to listen to the gossip that carries the burden in this proverb. We’re not supposed to be in that environment according to the Bible, but let’s just take a step back from the Bible, and I would rarely say something like that, but let’s just take a step back from the Bible and look at our lives because we have all probably experienced the effects of gossip. And, so, we just have to ask, like has anything ever good happened because you gossiped or because you consumed gossip? Like in what way you enriched? How did you fall deeper in love with Jesus and find clarity from the Holy Spirit through gossip? Actually, it’s gossip that is driving us underground because we do not think we can confess our sins to each other, that we can pray for each other so we can be healed, which is what the book of James tells us. So, if we’re people that gossip a lot or we’re participating by listening to it than we’re part of the problem. And that’s it’s hard to take sometimes, but it’s stifling growth in our communities. It’s stifling our own growth in our hearts because it’s forcing us to make all kinds of assumptions that may or may not be true, but false realities are created and then when it’s turned back on us were driven underground and isolated. So, we may not realize it in the moment because it’s juicy, but the voice of wisdom found in the Proverbs invites us to be part of a healing rather than part of a problem. And, so…and, so, yeah, I don’t know what else to say.

Prayer:

Jesus, come. We’ve all participated. We’ve all been on the receiving end. And yet, as painful as that has been, we still do it and it’s so unhealthy and it’s so unhelpful. Forgive us. Forgive us for the ways that we use our words and why we use our words the way that we do. We’re only revealing our own shortcomings. And, so, Holy Spirit come. May this be the beginning day that we stopped carrying around these little pieces of information that we just have to share with each other and have long conversations about people who are not even present making all kinds of assumptions that we cannot know creating all kinds of false realities that we live in as true, and then we crash and burn and shake our fist at the sky and ask You why You let this happen to us. We need to see things as they are. And things are as they are because they begin with our words. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it is indeed where you find out what’s going on around here.

The Daily Audio Bible shop is there where a number of resources exist to aid in the journey that we’re on, this adventure through the Scriptures in a year in community. So, be sure to check out the shop. The Prayer Wall, of course, lives at dailyaudiobible.com as well, where people are praying for one another, asking for prayer. And it’s a great place to be in community.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you, thank you, thank you humbly as we move through these summer months for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey DAB family it’s Albanita from Kentucky, now in Maryland. I am so far behind in the DAB. I think I just listened to June 13^th and I’ve been trying to catch up before calling in but today is the day __ to call in. So, we are, my husband David and I are, 8 ½ months pregnant with our baby girl. It is intense. It’s our first baby and I don’t feel ready at all. I know you can never feel really ready, but I’m just asking that you all please pray for us. Pray that we are the parents that God is calling us to be, that we can keep her alive, that I’m sure…I’m sure we can…and that we remain strong as a couple. My husband is also a pastor and so there are many stressors that he is currently dealing with on top of being a first-time father. For those of you that called in June, just know that you still have someone that is praying for you as I pray as I hear your requests. So, I love you all. I will keep you posted on her arrival. It’s supposed to be September 4^th. We’ll see how it goes. Love you much. Bye.

Hello this is Jackie from __ Colorado. I’ve listened for years but this is the first time I’ve called. I’ve recently been diagnosed with cancer – liver, ovary and possibly colon. So, I would like prayers on that for healing and strength to take whatever is coming. Also, I have a sin in my life that I don’t seem to be able to get past no matter how much I pray, no matter how hard I try. So, if you could pray for me to have victory on this, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

He Demetrius, how you doing? It’s the Prodigal. I heard your call. I heard a bunch of people call in to support you. I just wanted to add my two cents brother. I was where you are and am still. I’ve __ lost everything except my faith in Jesus. That’s the only reason that I keep going. And all I can do is encourage you brother because I’ll tell you, the bottom is an interesting place. You’re gonna find out who your friends are or more importantly who your friends aren’t. You also get a look over and see that when you’re at the bottom you look over and there’s another shovel there if you choose to pick it up and keep digging. So, I’d encourage you my friend stand up stand strong stand in the light of the Lord and let Him give you strength. I was gonna…I’ve been here six months beyond where I was planning to be here dude. So, he’s gotta give Him every day and He will give you…He will give you grace, He will give you love, He will give you __. Nobody said it was going to be perfect brother, but just want to tell you  I’ve been there man. __ in my lap, the whole 9 yards, pills that would choke a horse. But just keep plowing, keepo plugging, that’s what he’s got you here for brother. He just wants you to have an impact on somebody else’s life. I think I was here because I was supposed to have an impact on your life but I don’t know. I won’t presume. Anyway, love you brother. Stay strong. God bless and take care.

Hi, good morning Daily Audio Bible, my name is Kay I’m calling from Los Angeles California. I’m a new listener and I’ve been meaning to call in but today my spirit was just feeling very very vext. I am experiencing trials on every side. My seven-year-old was just recently diagnosed with colitis and during that time in May when he was admitted into the hospital, I was also arrested in the emergency room and charged with battery due to a false claim made by one of the staff members. So, now I have a criminal case that I’m fighting. I am…I don’t have the resources to pay for an attorney but I do need legal representation to prove my innocence and for the attorneys to subpoena the hospital to get the surveillance so they can see that I never touched this staff member. The devil is a lie. I’m also dealing with a 16-year-old daughter who is not necessarily rebelling, but I just feel like our relationship is kind of going south. You know, she blames me for a lot of things. She kinda does what she wants. She’s not been very honest, and I just want my little girl back. Needless to say, I’m walking in this alone and sometimes it feels like God has forgotten about me. I know He is able, I know that He is a restorer. He’s a lawyer, He’s a father to the fatherless…

Well hello family, I sure love you all. This is Robert Learning to Serve, and I’d like to add something to that name - in Love with Love and through Love. I’m still having a hard time with that but since there’s Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I think it kind of fits together. I really am so proud of this program. I’ve been able to be with y’all for 12 years and was so sick before with rheumatoid arthritis and being so sick I was able to listen about 40 times and maybe a little more now but it’s something I’ve been with y’all every day and I’ve heard all your prayer requests and I just so humbled by what Brian and China and the rest of the family have done here and all the people behind the scene. I found out two days ago that I have cancer real bad in my liver and my adrenal glands and I’ve been through a lot. This last year’s been a real trial for me to deal with all the things I’ve been dealing with. And, you know, I would like all the honor and glory to go to God in what happens, but I am, you know, I’m dealing with this new thing and I’m…I’m positive that it’s all gonna, you know, be okay. I’m not worried about it, but my sister’s been on hospice. I’ve requested help for my sister Jeannie. And, you know, it’s getting hard with her…her organs are failing too and, she’s been on hospice now for about six months and continues to go and we’ve always been so close. I just love you all and I…

2 Chronicles 32:1-33:13, Romans 15:23-16:9, Psalms 25:16-22, Proverbs 20:16-18

Today is the 2^nd day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure to be here with you as we…well…as we move into the end of the week and approach the weekend, the first weekend of the month of August. We have made it a long way together and we’re learning so much together as God’s word continues to speak on its own behalf, in its entirety in a year. So we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week and we’re rounding the corner on second Chronicles and for that matter we’re rounding the corner on the letter to the Romans. So, we’re gonna be switching up here over the next couple of days into some new territory but first we need to finish well where we are. Second Chronicles chapter 32 verse 1 through 33 verse 13 today.

Commentary:

Alright. So, from our time and second Chronicles today we again encountered the story of Assyria’s invasion of Israel and we can just be like, “yeah there’s another piece of the story, there’s some history of how things happened”, but if we go a little closer, we see that we’re reading our own story as well and we’re given some pretty powerful counsel on how to navigate. So, when King Hezekiah faced the reality that the Assyrians were coming, and they were outnumbered and unprepared he acted very wisely. He did what he could first to prepare himself and his army for the attack. Like, he cut off the water flow so that if the invasion happened than the invading army wouldn’t have access to water and he fortified and repaired the defensive walls of Jerusalem and built towers and additional defenses and then had weaponry for his soldiers made that they would need for that kind of a battle and then he encouraged the people by telling them, “be brave and be strong. Don’t let the king of Assyria and all those warriors that he brings with them scare you because you dismay, because our forces are greater than his. All he has his human strength, but we have the Lord our God will help us fight our battles.” So, let’s look at what happened here. King Hezekiah received word that the enemy was going to invade and what he did not do is go lay on his bed and sulk. What he did do is everything he could do to prepare and acknowledged God in all of it. So, we easily could pause here and consider the battles that we’re facing. Are we doing all that we can to be prepared and then having faith in God alone or are we just completely unaware? As the story went on, we saw that Hezekiah was prepared, as prepared as they could be. The first offensive initiative by the Assyrians had nothing to do with swords and spears and arrows and wood and metal. The first attack…the first wave…and this is so often true in our lives…the first attack was made out of words, right? So, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria sends his envoys to the walls of Jerusalem to tell them they’re gonna die. It’s a psychological attack and it’s supposed to weaken and intimidate Jerusalem. Just listen to these taunts. “What makes you so confident that you stay put in Jerusalem while it is being attacked? Obviously, King Hezekiah’s fooled you into surrendering yourselves to death by hunger and thirst when he says the Lord our God will rescue us from a serious king. Don’t know what I and my predecessors have done to the people of other nations. Were any of the gods of these other nations able to rescue their lands from my power? Which one of any of the gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed was able to rescue them from my power? So, why should your God be able to rescue you from my power? Don’t let Hezekiah seduce you like fools. Don’t believe him. No God of any other nation or kingdom has been able to rescue their people from me or from my predecessors. No. Your gods won’t rescue you from my power.” Does that sound familiar at all? Like, doesn’t that resemble the kind heckling and insults that plague us nearly every time we’re facing a battle? So, like, no matter how prepared we are we seem to face the taunts of the enemy because if we can be demoralized, like, if we will just surrender there…well then it doesn’t matter how prepared we are or how much were trusting in God. If we believe the taunts then fear overtakes and wins the battle over our faith and then God seems completely absent, like He’s gone, like He’s unavailable. And, so, when we feel this way, we just need to backtrack and look at the fact that we’ve been demoralized and surrendered. The thing is, in the story, the threats, the things that were being said outside of Jerusalem’s walls, those things were true. The Assyrian Empire had completely destroyed many kings and kingdoms and for sure they had an intimidating, merciless army, but rather than accept defeat and surrender, Hezekiah and also the prophet Isaiah was there, they cried out to God. They were as prepared for battle as they could be, but they were not gonna survive, they would not be able to with withstand a siege, not in their own strength. And, so, they cried out to God and God came. So, according to second Chronicles 33, “then the Lord sent a messenger who destroyed every warrior, leader, and officer in the camp of the Assyrian king. When Sennacherib went home in disgrace, he entered the temple of his God and his own sons killed him with the sword. This is how the Lord rescued Hezekiah and the citizens of Jerusalem from the power of Assyria’s king Sennacherib and all others giving them rest on all sides.” So, what we see in this story is vigilant preparation, totally getting as prepared as possible and a total awareness of what’s actually going on, married to a complete understanding that no matter how prepared they might be, no matter how much information or intel that they have, only the strength of God could lead them to victory. Let’s member this today as were facing our own battles,

Prayer:

Father, there’s probably not person within the sound of my voice that isn’t facing some sort of battle in some sort of way, and some of these are small little obstacles and some of these are what feels like a full assault on our soul or on our life. And, so, Father, show us by the power of Your Holy Spirit, how to prepare, how to be vigilant, how to not just surrender before anything starts because we’re intimidated, how to be prepared and how to know that You alone are our only hope. And may we see these taunts for what they are. They’re just trying to demoralize us into surrender because if we don’t surrender and You are our only strength and we have put all our hope in You, and we have prepared well, well then, the enemy walks in fear. It may taunt, it may try to demoralize, but it will be wiped out completely and thoroughly in the end. Help us to rest in that today Father because some of these battles are big ones. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it is home base, it is where you find out what’s going on around here.

The Prayer Wall lives there. The Daily Audio Bible Shop lives there. You can find out about events that are upcoming there.

And the event that is coming up, and we are in the right month now, on the 31^st of this month we’ll begin the Daily Audio Bible Family Reunion here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. Here, in the much desired Nashville area these days. Quite the destination spot. Our town is exploding, and we’ve got great spot out on the lake and it is going to be fantastic and I hope you can come here to the rolling hills of Tennessee and spend some time together. All of the details about that event are in the Initiatives section at dailyaudiobible.com. And if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you compress the little…there’s a little Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. That’ll get you to the Initiatives section as well. So, you can get all of the details and make plans to come and we’d love nothing more than to see you there. So, check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. And as I’ve said so many times, I could not possibly thank you enough. We are here because we are here together and I’m grateful and I thank you for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the app or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

The light of the father resides within us all
calling relentlessly with a __ call
return to the father give your very best
to the stranger as well as your neighbor your first fruits and nothing less
encourage your brother because he bears God’s light to
let your words be honest faithful and true
live in harmony with nature and all things living
be quick to confess and even quicker at forgiving
be temporal seeking the eternal
fleshly be seeking the spiritual
and as you transcend your morality and values you’ll reach the place that is ethereal
joined with all mankind in universal praise
back with the father once again the ancient of days
what a wonderful picture of things yet to come
back with her father all men not just some
but in the meantime father as we work towards that place
please give us daily more mercy and grace
more oil for our lights more Holy Spirit
so when you speak to us father we have no choice but to hear it
because sometimes our lights start to flicker and they even grow damn
because they’re locked behind our fleshly shells imprisoned within
but the darkness will never overcome and extinguish the light
inevitably all men try to do what is right
help us to be more loving to really care about our brothers
to truly let our little light shine and join with all others
because all of us have the light of God dwelling within
calling to us relentlessly come back once again

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Sherlock Washington and Kim and also Dean Smith and Kim. Thank you both for your support and your love and once again, Brian and the Hardin family, thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all.

My name is Gary, I live in northern Idaho and I am calling to enlist the DAB prayer family. I have been recently diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and it’s evidently been around me quite a while because it has progressed to a lot of my skeletal system and the Lord has recently orchestrated everything to get me to a hospital, to the medical center coeur d'alene Idaho where everybody is being the hands and feet of Jesus. So, He’s using everybody, and He’s even given me the opportunity to follow the great commission. So, He’s placed me in the right place, but I am enlisting the prayer warriors of the DAB and to the praying army. Alright? So, I do love and appreciate you guys. I’ve been listening mostly for the last six years. I’ve been through the bible most of the time with these past six years and I’m going through it with you again. Today is the 28^th of July. The 20^th of July is when I received the final diagnosis. I had suspicions before but now I absolutely know the Lord of heavens armies is on my side and we are…we have established a beachhead against the enemy and we are fighting back tooth and nail. There’s no way I am throwing in the towel on this. I have thrown down the gauntlet and I am fighting side-by-side with Jesus to vanquish this enemy, kick it back to where it came from and be cancer free again. I say again because I went to cancer 40 years ago and I’m here 40 years later to tell you about it, cancer free from that cancer.

Hello, my beautiful Daily Audio Bible brothers and sisters. This is Suzanne calling from Albuquerque. Well, I’m calling today because I’m scared. I…oh…I didn’t go to the doctor when I should have because I had changed…got on affordable care and it was such a mess that I just…anyway the bottom line is I happen to have an ovarian cyst and I finally went to the doctor and they find it’s grown to 7mm and it’s fairly large at this point and I’ve got some pain in that area and I’m scared. She’s…she wants to…I don’t know what they’re going to do but she’s…they got me in there right away as soon as I told her what was going on and then she called on Saturday and they’re gonna send me to a gynecologist and I’m really worried about the medical bills and I should be more worried about my life. I am worried about my life. I just had…I’m just scared and I’m just asking for your prayers. Yeah…I’m…usually when I get scared it’s…it’s…there’s no reason to get scared but, you know, it always turns out good but, you know, anyway I’m just asking for your prayers. I’m worried and I’m scared, and I just have a lot of more…a lot more things I wanted to do with my life. So, please lift me up in prayer about this and I just really hope that it’s all going to be okay and that I’m gonna be okay and I’ll be around for a while longer. Okay, thank you. Oh and the…Angel thank you so much for lifting me up in prayer and all of you who haven’t called in, I know you’ve been praying for me. There’s a gentleman that I think you thought that I was…

Hi, this is Victoria Soldier just calling tonight to pray with some of the DABbers. I will pray with Demetrius. I want to pray with the lady that has insomnia. I want to pray with the man with the five kids and who’s gone through with his family. And I want to pray with Cherry, and I want…and I mean I just want to say hi to Cherry and other people of God. Gracious Father, we lift You up, we magnify Your name. Lord we ask You to touch Demetrius, let him know that You are the one that’s carrying him, let him know that You love him so much that You are right there if he’d only trust You. Oh Lord don’t throw in the towel but throw the towel on prayer. Throw the towel on the floor and begin to pray until something happens. Oh Lord You let him know that You’re right there, that You are a God that can do anything but fail. You’re an almighty God and an awesome God. Lord I ask that You touch his mind, that You touch him and let him know that You’re there. Oh Lord let him know not to quit knocking but to continue on and see what the ends going to be. It says they that wait upon the Lord, He shall renew their strength. He shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not faint and whatsoever things they doith, they shall prosper. But the ungodly are not so because there’s only one time for them. Lord I just asking to touch the brother with the kids. Lord You have Your way. May You Have Your Way, Lord. You bless him to be that man, that husband, that father. Lord You work it out Lord, in the name of Jesus. Lord help him to trust You and know that You are able to do anything but fail. Oh Lord in the name of Jesus you need to be able to take your rightful place where God can flow through you and flow through your family continue to have Your way in the name of Jesus. Lord You touch the lady who’s going through…

Good morning DABber’s, this is Walta the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of our God and King. I’m calling today for our sister who called in. Her son is facing a charge, he might go to jail. __ God is not gonna let that happen. I think his name is David. I’m not sure. And I know he’s been given…he’s given his life to Christ. And, so, sister, I want you to know that I’m praying for your son right now. I’m standing in the gap for him and praying that God will offer favor, will give him favor in the name of Jesus and that this will just be part of his testimony I pray. Also pray for our brother who walked his dog and God pulled off, I guess on his bike and he ended up breaking a bone in his shoulder. And I pray for recovery, full recovery in the name of Jesus. Family today I am praising God because 2014, 2015 was a year that from 2014 between 2014 and 2015, I did not know I would ever see my son again, my younger son. My ex-husband had taken him to Romania and refusing to send him back to the United States. And, so, I stayed away from my boy for like 11 months praying that he would return. My DAB family prayed to for him to return and in 2015 July, my son, I think is was June, he was brought back to me and this year I’m celebrating his 12^th birthday in a day or so on the 30^th of July and I just want to praise God for answered prayers. And he’s such a wonderful son. Se is an A honor’s student, a Boy Scout, just a great boy all around and I just want to thank you all for praying for me that time and I just remember God’s mercy’s and his grace and praising god for having my child. Love you guys. Talk…

2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21, Romans 15:1-22, Psalms 25:1-15, Proverbs 20:13-15

Today is the 1^st day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we greet the new month, as we step into it, this eighth month of the year. How exciting is that? We have made this journey seven full months and now we step into the eighth month of the year. Of course, where in the middle of the week basically. So, we’re still in the same week, brand new month, picking up where we left off yesterday. We’re reading from the common English Bible this week. Second Chronicles chapters 30 and 31.

Commentary:

Alright. So, yesterday from the book of Romans we were talking about unity and uniformity and the postures we should hold toward each other as brothers and sisters in the faith, and that thought is kind of carried over today as we continue through the book of Romans. As we mentioned before, this gives us insight into some of the struggles that the church was grappling with at its formation and some of struggles that we’re still grappling with today, if not even worse today. Like, in Paul’s time there wasn’t a plethora, like literally over 40,000 Christian denominations and very divergent worship styles. Church had just begun to form, but as we’ve mentioned on a number of occasions, there’s plenty of discussion, vigorous discussion happening about exactly who’s allowed to be in the church and exactly what they would need to do to achieve inclusion in the church. Paul’s argument…and Paul’s argument was controversial, by the way, at least from a Hebrew perspective. Paul’s argument was that anybody could be in the church, like anybody could become a disciple of Jesus Christ, anyone who believed, even people who weren’t Hebrew or Jewish, which meant Gentiles. And we’ve kind of unpacked that on a number of occasions. Not everybody agreed with that. There was a heated disagreement about it. There was a church council about it that had unbelievable implications because once the church decided that Gentiles could be included without converting to Judaism first, they were no longer considered a sect of Judaism, like, they were a standalone thing, rejected by the Romans and rejected by the Jews. Like, it because an incredible amount of persecution. So, it was an incredible struggle early on. And we’ve talked about how the Jewish believers, they saw Jesus as the savior of the Jews, and He was continuing to Hebrew story of God with his chosen people. So, that’s why you would need to convert to Judaism and follow Jesus. But as a trained Pharisee, Paul knew all of those arguments. He had lived and studied and had tried to live within that context but then Paul began to realize Jesus wasn’t just the savior of the Jews, he was the Savior of the world. So, quoting Paul from our reading today, “I’m saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth in order to confirm the promises given to the ancestors and so that the Gentiles could glorify God for his mercy. As it is written because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles and I will sing praises to your name,” which is a quote from Psalm 18. So, they were wrestling with this, we are wrestling with this. And it kind of comes down to a core question that we just have to ask ourselves. Can a person who believes in Jesus but doesn’t see things theologically the same way that I do on certain points or does things that I wouldn’t or will that I would consider wrong or the lives in a way that I don’t approve of, can they still be a believer, a Christian? So now, unlike the early church we have many flavors and many stripes - 40,000 Christian denominations on the planet today - and most of the reasons that there is division is over theological points of disagreement and worship style and pretty much everybody believes their holding on and defending the true faith. So, even as this conflict was so small in its infancy, Paul considered that to be basically a waste of energy because we can judge each other all we want, it has no consequence. We can tell somebody they’re going to hell or we can tell somebody they’re not and it has no consequence. We have no say. There is only one final judge and us spouting off at the mouth, especially in condemnation and judgment like that is dangerous, because Jesus said, “we’ll be judged by the way we judge.” So, Paul gave us a posture and I’ll quote him straight from Romans 15, “May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus attitude. That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with one voice. So, welcome each other in the same way that Christ also welcomed you for God’s glory.” So, remembering the guidance of the apostle Paul can help us when our grace has run out, right, when our patience is done for our brothers and sisters who are doing whatever they’re doing that we do not agree with. What we find in those moments is, yeah, things well up inside of us and we do want to argue it out and wrestle it out and that’s fine, but we understand very quickly that what we’re arguing about is our theological interpretation. Like, every time we win one of those battles, we haven’t saved God’s life. Like every doctrinal battle that we fight, whether we win or lose that battle, we haven’t rescued God from the brink. So rather than fighting those battles all the time so that we can find out what it is that we really think, we can fall on God’s mercy as we must. And Paul suggests that we should join together with one voice giving praise and glory to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer:

Father, the reality is interesting in this community because we truly are as diverse as Your church is on planet Earth today. We swim in every stream imaginable in many different expressions all over the earth and yet we come together every day and find common ground and love for each other. I have never seen this happen before outside of this community. And, so, I worship You for that, we thank You for that because we’ve all come here for one thing, to allow Your word to speak for itself and then to do our own wrestling about it. But what we find over and over and over is that we have to tread lightly, that Your Holy Spirit must be present, that there is a narrow path that leads to life, and that we won’t find it by looking at what everyone else is doing. We will find by following You and not comparing how we are following You to have someone else might be. We are not the judge, and neither are they. We are responsible to follow You and I love that we do that here, that we love each other. Father help us to not only experience that here inside this community but that we would turn outward with this same love and perpetuate it all over the earth replacing darkness with light by the very fact that we are present and present to You and Your leadership. Come Holy Spirit we pray. Breathe on Your church anew we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it’s home base, it is indeed where you find out what’s going on around here.

And before this month is over, we’ll be at the Family Reunion that is taking place at the end of this month, August 31^st and into September 1^st over Labor Day weekend. So, you are all invited here to the rolling hills of Tennessee, where we are gonna to get together and have a family reunion - play outside, picnic, swim in the lake, whatever it is that you like to do. And we’ll get together at night, just enjoy fellowship together, hear from each other. I look forward to hand shaking and neck hugging and everything that goes with a Family Reunion. So, hope to see you here in the rolling hills. You can get all of the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Just look for Family Reunion 2019. Everything is there. So, hope to see there. If you’re using the app, you can press that little Drawer icon that’s in the upper left-hand corner and that’ll get you to the Initiatives section as well.

If your partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what we do here together every day just coming around the global campfire and letting God’s word speak to us, if that brings good news and life and light into your life then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

2 Chronicles 29:1-36, Romans 14:1-23, Psalms 24:1-10, Proverbs 20:12

Today is the 31^st day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Here we are friends, the end of the seventh month of the year together. And as hard as it is to believe sometimes, we’re in the back half of the year. Five months from now we’ll be finishing the Bible which gives us a lay of the land as far as time goes, but we are here, and we are here now and we’re here to take the next step forward as we continue our adventure through the Scriptures. So, we’re reading from the Common English Bible this week and from the Old Testament will read second Chronicles chapter 29 today and the story of King Hezekiah.

Commentary:

Okay. Romans 14 packs a pretty good punch because it kind of flies in the face of some of our assumptions and it also shows us that the things that we usually think or kind of think or suspect, these were things that were going on a long time ago. They run the entire length of time that the church has been in existence. So, as believers we’ll hear phrases like “unity in the body”…”we need unity in the body.” We’ll even pray for unity in the body and we tend to think that if and when everybody who believes in Jesus finally could get on the same page and then we all become like-minded, then we will have unity and then then the power of God could be unleashed upon the earth and his kingdom could be revealed. But the problem is we’re probably not describing unity when we think of this, we’re are probably describing uniformity and that’s a different thing. So, the idea that in the body of Christ among the human race we can find unity in uniformity actually works against unity because it segregates us into these theological camps where we’re gonna battle each other over who gets to dominate and control the truth, who gets to be in, who gets to be out and how our expressions should be expressed in worship and so on and so forth. And, so, Paul begins today, “welcome the person who is weak in faith but not on order to argue about differences of opinion. And then he gave some examples from that particular time about what was going on. Like, the first was about foods that could be eaten or foods that should not be eaten and then the second was about which days were to be the holy days. And, I mean, this ended up in Paul’s letter to the Romans, which eventually ended up in the New Testament of the Bible that we place our faith in. So, these were actual issues that he wasn’t just making up. These issues had become such issues that they were dividing people, or he wouldn’t have mentioned them, and he wouldn’t have spoken so forcefully about it. So, if you look at the heart of the matter than we can see this this kind of stuff’s always been going on. It’s still going on now. We still are participating in this same kind of division. So, Paul addresses the posture in a way that kind of blows it all up and forces us to face that we have a tendency to judge each other very severely, usually because we think we’ve got it right and everybody needs to get on board with the way we’re seeing things so that we can have unity. And, so Paul steps into the fray and speaks very directly. “Who are you to judge someone else’s servants? They stand or fall before their own Lord and they will stand because the Lord has the power to make them stand.” So, Paul’s kind of basically saying like, “you can be as judgmental as you like, but it’s illegitimate judgment. There is only one legitimate judge and we’re wasting our time trying to take His authority so that we get to be right. Instead we should be keeping our eyes on our own lives and be led by the Holy Spirit about what we can and cannot do and how we should live. And we each have a different story to tell. And we each have different strengths and weaknesses. And we each come from different backgrounds. So, uniformity isn’t going to bring us into unity by force. And believe me friends, we have tried that in our church history, and it didn’t work. So, Paul says, “why do you judge your brother or sister? Why do you look down on your brother or sister? We all will stand in front of the judgment seat of God. So, stop judging each other. Instead, this is what you should decide. Never put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of your brother or sister. So, I’m just reading this out of the Bible only. If you’re like, “oh, you’re off on the deep end here” then just go read Romans 14. We just read this. This is what it says, but more importantly is what it means. Because if we would actually take the advice of the apostle Paul from the New Testament of the Bible, we’re actually being given freedom, freedom to walk with God personally and that God will give our journey guidance, that God will give us grace and dignity. We don’t have to be defined by what somebody else thinks. We are given permission to be who we are as we’re being transformed by the one legitimate judge. But frankly, all that freedom can be taken to the other extreme, where we just cultivate pride. Like, “I get to do whatever I want, and I don’t care what you think.” Paul’s not saying that. He’s showing both sides of the equation here. He’s saying that our freedoms are our freedoms and they are between us and God, but they cannot be used to cause someone else to stumble on their journey. So, he says it like this because he’s speaking directly to those issues. “It’s a good thing not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that trips your brother or sister. Keep the belief that you have to yourself. It’s between you and God. People are blessed who don’t convict themselves by the things they approve but those who have doubts are convicted if they go ahead and eat because they aren’t acting on the basis of faith. Everything that isn’t based on faith is sin.” So, we all have a story to tell and each of our stories are different stories. If we were all to be telling a uniform story we would have all been created to look exactly the same and have exactly the same thoughts. We’re gonna stand before God as individuals, but there’s no way that we can ignore that our lives impact others. So, unity’s not gonna come when we all become clones. The body of Christ is as diverse as the human race. Unity will come when we agree on the essentials of our faith and when we offer grace freely like a cool cup of water or as Paul puts it, “God’s kingdom isn’t about eating food and drinking but about righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ this way pleases God and gets human approval.”

Prayer:

Father, once again we’re confronted with the fact that we’re pretty judgey. We’re continually judging, we’re continually making judgments about other people, about ourselves, about everything around us, but we’ve overstepped our bounds when we begin to judge another’s heart and motives and story and posture. That is not in our realm. That is in Yours and the truth is we need You to judge us mercifully because we have no hope otherwise. And You’ve said You would, but for some reason we seem to be unwilling to extend that to anyone else but ourselves. Help us to understand that as You judge us mercifully You are judging everyone else mercifully as well and they are in their story and we are in our story and if we would keep our eyes on You then we would see that we are holding in common in perfect unity what is true. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Come Holy Spirit. Help us to experience this as the freedom that it is. We don’t have to walk around in fear trying to fight everybody so that we can find out what we believe. We believe that we have called upon Your name and that You have rescued us and that You are transforming us and that this journey of life that we are all in together is an adventure of getting to know You. And we can’t get to know You when our eyes are on everyone else’s life. Come Holy Spirit, help us walk in freedom today in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base. It is indeed where you find out what’s going on around here.

The Daily Audio Bible shop lives there. The Prayer Wall lives there. All of the different links to places on social media can be found there. So, be sure to check it out. Stay tuned.

I’ve been telling you about the Family Reunion that we’re having this year and, yeah, we’re looking forward to it very much because we’ll be kind of slowing down the events for next year. And, so, we won’t be doing this next year. So, we’re looking forward to it very much this year, getting to see your faces and shake your hands and hug your necks and just watch…watch so many make connections with each other. Like, we’ve known each other by voice. Nice to…nice to shake each other’s hands and look into each other’s eyes for a minute. So, that’s a something that I’m looking forward to. I hope you can come. All of the details about the family reunion are dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. And if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, that’s just pressing the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner, that will get you to the Initiatives section there. So, check it out. Hopefully you can come over Labor Day weekend this year. Man, that is…I mean…like a month from today because August 31^st is when it begins, and this is July 31^st. So, we are one month away from the Family Reunion and I hope to see you there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we navigate through the summer months, I can’t thank you enough. Humble, heartfelt, deep gratitude for your partnership. As I’ve said many, many times over the years, what we’ve done we’ve done together and that’s been the story. So, thank you for your partnership. There’s is a link on the homepage. If you are using the daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is number to dial.

And that’s it for today. I’m Brian and I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.